KLM’s internally-focussed Digital Studio, located at Amsterdam’s Schiphol airport, is part of the Digital Transformation program of KLM and employs almost 60 people with a business, technical or design background. Based on my time working there, I highlight a few of the recent projects, and introduce the people and processes involved that make working for the airline a better experience. In this presentation, I explain what I have found to be different working for employees versus customers, and share what attendees might learn from this.

1. Designing
Employee Experiences
at
Peter Boersma
(@pboersma)
Euro IA 2018
Dublin, Ireland

3. Ireland
By Jeff Schmaltz - NASA Earth Observatory, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=14627545

4. Island
By Jeff Schmaltz - NASA Earth Observatory, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=14627545

22. Hi! I am Peter Boersma
trained as Information Ergonomist
combining Computer Science & Cognitive Ergonomics
worked for 20 years at interactive agencies
as IA, interaction designer, concept designer,
project manager, director, and managing partner
more recent experience with in-house projects
UX strategist for content management software,
and personalised portal for City of Amsterdam
since February 2018 at KLM Digital Studio
turning the intranet into a personalised dashboard

23. Digital Studio in org chart
Executive Team
Board of Managing Directors
Group interface (hierarchically airline,
functionally Group)
Group function
KLM Subsidiaries (100%)
Legend
President & CEO
Pieter Elbers
COO
Rene de Groot
CFO
Erik Swelheim
Customer
Experience
Boet Kreiken
Inflight
Services
Miriam Kartman
Flight
Operations
Bart de Vries
KLM Cargo
Marcel de Nooijer
E&M
Ton Dortmans
Trans-
formation
Jappe Blaauw
HR & IR
Aart Slagt
CIO / IS
Paul Elich
General Counsel
& Corp. Center
Barbara van Koppen
KLM NL
Harm Kreulen
Marketing &
Brand
Customer
experience
Product
development
Digital
Cabin crew
management
Crew service
hub
Crew planning
& Assignment
Cabin product
& Service
Network
supply
Business
development
Inflight retail &
Media
KCS
Chief pilots
Standards &
Compliance
Crew training
Cockpit crew
services
Ground
Services
Operations
Control
International
Stations
Mainport
Strategy
Fleet
Services
IMO
Operations
Schedule &
Cap. planning
Security
Services
Passenger
services
Baggage
services
Apron
services
Hub control
& Planning
Contract &
Account mgnt
Operational
integrity
Business
development
Worldwide
operations
Ops integrity,
compl/safety
Cargo control
center
Performance
management
Bus. process
improvement
Regional jet
center
Martinair
Airframe /
operations
Engine
services
Component
services
Engineering
Safety &
Quality
EPCOR
LSS &
Innovation
KLM UK
Engineering
IR, comp.
& Benefits
Resourcing
& Health
Learning &
Development
Strategy
& Projects
Shared
service center
RE & FC
Business
partners
IMO HR &
Corporate
Corp. Finance
& Treasury
F&C
Pax Business
Corp. Control
& Reporting
F&C E&M
Taxation
Internal
Audit
Fuel
Transavia
General
secretariat
Legal
Corp. com-
munications
Public
affairs
Government &
Industry aff.
Privacy
office
CSR
Compliance
Operations
Development
(airl. specific)
Distributed
services
Digitizing
Fleet
Development
Alliances
Network
Planning
Cygnific
ISSO
KLC
Ops Decision
Support
KES
M&A /
Holding mgnt
Procurement
Flight
tactical
KLS
KHS
Delegate to
the Board
KLM Management structure
per 1, 201

24. KLM Digital Studio
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T_i3ZXUJEAE

25. Happy employees ensure happy customers
and happy customers ensure happy shareholders
(in that order)
Simon Sinek

26. TechDesign
Business

27. Digital Studio Projects
iMech
replacing plan boards with an iPad app
AIR
adding AR to assist mechanics in repairing aircraft
OneKLM
combining tools & content into a personalised dashboard

28. Project: iMech

36. Digital Studio Projects
iMech
replacing plan boards with an iPad app
AIR
adding AR to assist mechanics in repairing aircraft
OneKLM
combining tools & content into a personalised dashboard

37. Project: AIR
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MYddQcSEXbQ

38. Digital Studio Projects
iMech
replacing plan boards with an iPad app
AIR
adding AR to assist mechanics in repairing aircraft
OneKLM
combining tools & content into a personalised dashboard

39. Project: Personalised dashboard
2016: HR Vision sessions established a need.
2017: Design Sprint, resulting in a 3-screen prototype.
2018 Q1: Team formed with IxD, developers, visual design.
2018 Q2: Prototype & business case tour, start of Dev.
2018 Q3: Define & build MVP; team now 13 people.
2018 Q4: Launch with 200 people, define Ops team.
Since it’s a dashboard for other systems, it’s never done!

41. Digital Studio Projects
iMech
replacing plan boards with an iPad app
AIR
adding AR to assist mechanics in repairing aircraft
OneKLM
combining tools & content into a personalised dashboard

42. Employee Experiences
iMech
replacing plan boards with an iPad app
AIR
adding AR to assist mechanics in repairing aircraft
OneKLM
combining tools & content into a personalised dashboard

43. digitalworkplacegroup.com

44. Digital Workplaces
“The digital workplace is the intranet, plus
other connected enterprise software systems.”
or:
“The digital workplace is
the virtual, digital equivalent of the physical workplace.”
or:
“The digital workplace is an
ongoing, deliberate approach to delivering
a more consumer-like computing environment
that is better able to facilitate
innovative and flexible working practices.”

46. Employee Experiences are easier
Easier access to users
for once, sometimes you actually are the user
and if not, you can usually find a contact who will help.
Easier access to managers of processes & systems
but they still want to keep things as they are
Example: several CMS migrations without functional changes.
Easier to measure improvements
because you’re still there when the product is live,
and you can have access to the analytics.
Easier access to previous / similar / parallel projects
because you are in-house,
and you are allowed to see internal materials.

47. Employee Experiences are harder
Enterprise stakeholders also think they are users
but only in a very few cases are they actually the user,
and no one is a user of something new.
solution: Good old-fashioned user-centred design.
Enterprise scale = many different users
example: the Airframe department of the Engineering &
Maintenance division has 118 roles among the 2500 employees,
and the whole of KLM has 33000 employees.
example: the flight crew really want to be (and should be)
treated differently from other types of employees.
solution: Mass-Customisation + Personalisation.
Enterprise scale = many different teams & designs
example: there are 18 teams developing digital tools for HR.
solution: Design System + Navigation as a Service (“NaaS”)

48. Lessons learned
You need to build up an in-house network of contacts
speeds up decision making, design & development
example: Our Information Analyst benefits daily from her network
when analysing Engineering & Maintenance systems and their APIs.
example: Our program manager did an extensive tour with our
prototype and the business case to secure funding.
Different product lifecycle phases require different teams
and in enterprises you can have them!
example: OneKLM will have (had) 7 teams: Design Sprint Team >
Concept Team > Prototype Team > MVP Team > Rollout &
Evaluation Team > Ops Team > Governance Team
Enterprises are a Dutch guy’s dream!
getting & giving blunt feedback is easy & liberating.

49. Bonus lesson
Aircraft engineers are great at labeling their things!

50. Thank you!

51. Designing
Employee Experiences
at
Peter Boersma
(@pboersma)
Euro IA 2018
Dublin, Ireland